Buffalo News May 8th, 2008Case involving former church endsA fresh coat of paint and a judge’s order Wednesday ended the 15-year-old Housing Court case over the former Transfiguration Catholic Church. Hours after Buffalo City Judge Joseph A. Fiorella dismissed all charges against the Francis Associates organization of William F. Trezevant and his mother, Paula Nowak, a contractor applied the second coat of paint to a wooden structure at the rear of the Sycamore Street icon. “Now that this nightmare is over we can get on with providing a facility that will be of benefit to the neighborhood and the entire city,” said Trezevant, after ordering the painting that had been requested by Senior Deputy Corporation Counsel David Rodriquez. Fiorella dismissed the case after Building Inspector Tracy Krug confirmed that repair work on the former church’s two-story-tall steeple had been completed and Rodriquez pressed for the second coat of paint. Trezevant and his mother, a retired special investigator for the federal Government Accountability Office, purchased the former church in the 900 block of Sycamore from the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo for $7,000. They bought it 15 years ago with plans to convert the 19th century landmark into a community center. Housing Court disputes allegedly stymied the renovations until Rodriquez intervened last year and speeded up the issuance of city work permits. Until City Judge E. Jeannette Ogden last October quashed the arrest warrants issued by another Housing Court judge, Nowak — who still lives in retirement in the Washington, D. C., area — had been subject to immediate arrest if she set foot in Buffalo. After Wednesday’s final court session, Trezevant said his non-profit organization, which has financed all the repair work through donations, has no set date for opening the former church as a community center.